So yes Sai Mecha is back again this year! Last year was a lot of fun (Thanks to ExecutiveOtaku!) so this year I've decided to talk a little about each round and the mecha I'll be voting for. First up we have Earth Side Round 1.

Gurren Lagann vs Arbalest

So the Arbalest gets my vote here because I just don't like the looks of the Gurren Lagann at all. I also really like mecha that have a serious look to them and not just flashy colours that make you want to puke. The Gurren Lagann is also really creepy to me because it has a face on it's chest...

Big O vs Gundam Exia

I love, love the Big O but I love, love, LOVE the Gundam Exia more. The Big O is huge and clunky yet somehow it can run really fast to pack a serious punch, which is pretty awesome. The Exia is piloted by Setsuna whom I love so well yeah... My vote goes to the Gundam.

Ingram vs RahXephon

While the RahXephon is very cool since it has those awesome wings on it's head and it can sing my vote can't go against one of my first mecha loves being that of Patlabor. The Ingram is another one of those serious looking mecha that I just love. Also the RahXephon is a tad creepy with that face on it's chest just like the Gurren Lagann.

Takemikazuchi vs Zeta Gundam

Seriously? No contest the Zeta gets my vote. The Takemikazuchi is cool and all I suppose but I simply can't go against Gundam here.

Shin Getter Robo vs Zeorymer

Uhhh well I've never actually any Shin Getter Robo. Well that's not true. I've seen bits of first Getter Robo but unlike Mazinger Z it just held no interest for me so I didn't continue with the series (someday I might pick it back up). Hades Project Zeorymer I have seen though and really enjoyed. I'm amazed that it's even in this tourney since it's not a super well known ova. Just for that it gets my vote.

Nirvash vs Dai Guard

This pairing is probably the one I care the least about. I've not seen any Dai Guard and I didn't care for the mecha designs from Eureka Seven at all even though they were pretty entertaining. So by default Nirvash will get my vote simply for surfing in the air like a boss.

Mazinger Z vs VF-25

WHY????? Hardest match up for me yet but I must go with my Macross love and vote for the VF-25. It's a sexy beast. I'm sorry Mazinger Z...

Delphine vs Mazinkaiser SKL

Another painfully difficult battle for me. Both mecha are completely bad ass and I love them to bits. I fell in love with both series last year as well. If I was judging on pure awesomeness Mazinkaiser SKL would win hands down. But looks wise and functionality awesomeness goes to the Delphine for sure. Who ever wins in this match I'll be happy with so I'll be looking forward to who pulls through.

Check out Mr. ghostlightning's post for further Sai Mecha Awesomeness!

I have no idea if anyone actually noticed or even cared that I didn't post my last Not so Secret Santa review on Christmas Day. It's always been lingering in my mind though as it was my favourite pick of the bunch! So I figured that I would thank ExecutiveOtaku today as a Valentine's Day gift! This recommendation is probably long forgotten by him which fits with it being oh so s.e.c.r.e.t. and a super surprise by me since this review finally comes out!

A fine way to start off an anime

See! Spike!

Fits right in with Tenchi!

FFU bullet look alike!

The first feeling I got was this is a copy of many anime but totally awesome because it combines ALL these anime into one simply awesome show! Slayers or probably Lost Universe because that one actually takes place in space for the animation and wacky characters, Cowboy Bebop in general honestly, Trigun because of gunslingers, Macross 7 because the neat cities in space, Final Fantasy Unlimited because of the gun loading shots over and over again (even though Outlaw Star came out first but I saw FFU before it hehe), Tenchi because of that crazy cat chick! So many anime came to mind very fast for me and many more but these ones stick out the most. Evangelion also comes into the picture too because of how Outlaw Star ends!

Gene speaking with the ship for the first time.

"Hot Ice" Hilda

James "Jim" Hawking

Melfina

The first OP is catchy but nothing amazing. Something I would very much expect from the late 90's. ED's One and Two are lovely with the calm music and the imagery is pure stunning. The music throughout the series isn't memorable but it wasn't annoying either. It generally takes a lot for me to really take notice of background music so being insignificant can be a good thing in my case. I really loved the blurbs at the beginning of every episode explaining the past of this universe, the past of a character, or just anything in general pertaining to the story. The English dub is ok so I watched the majority of episodes like that. When possible I generally do watch anime in English but only if they aren't ear bleeding. Thankfully this one was alright so my ears were saved. Although I REALLY hated Aisha Clanclan's voice...

Great ol' buddies right?

Just a little whisper teehehe

*sniff sniff*

I'd be blushing too...

The hot spring episode was hilarious!

...Spit Sperm?!?

For the most part we enjoy episodic adventures but there is always one goal in mind for the crew of The Outlaw Star, to seek out and find the "Galactic Leyline", location unknown and it could just very well be a mythical place since all there is to go on are rumors and superstition by random people. Right away I was in love with this plot line. Space adventures in anime have always been a favourite theme of mine. Well generally anything in space as long as it's good I'll be super happy. When it turns out amazing I'm even more thrilled!

Main Main cast

Main Secondary cast

Melfina and the ship are super special!

Another thing that thrills me about Outlaw Star is that I loved all of the characters. Sure miss Clanclan, an alien cat race crazy lady, could be really annoying at times but that was her role in the show. Comic relief and boy was she ever rather good at it for the most part. Melfina being half human, half android was another fun addition to the mix. She ended up being the one who could meld with the ship and control it. Loved how she just "had" to be naked while doing it too. She ends up having a very interesting and unique relationship with our hero of the show Gene Starwind. He is everything you would expect him to be honestly. Even has a sidekick, James "Jim" Hawking, who is generally smarter than Gene even though he's much much younger. Of course our crew wouldn't be complete without someone who was initially hired to kill a friend of Gene's but ends up trying to kill Gene instead although she "changes" her mind till a better time comes. Suzuka is one interesting lady because in the end she ends up joining the crew on their quest. If I had to choose a favourite out of the main cast it would be Melfina. She is just awesome. Another favourite that happens to not be among the main cast is the man who Suzuka was hired to kill in the first place, Fred Luo, Gene's good friend that just happens to be his weapons merchant too. He is flaming gay and has a hard on for Gene. This is completely hilarious to me whenever Fred is around. With great nemesis along the way there's surely someone in this cast of oddball characters to make everyone happy in this series. The Kei Pirates were always fun when they were around and the MacDougall Brother's are a hoot. The really big bad guys at the end of the series were awesome in their own way as well.

Those sexy sexy ships!

The MacDougall Brother's and a crazy dr dude

Some of the The Anten Seven

All I can say now is that if you haven't seen this anime yet and love blast from the past anime, watch Outlaw Star now. I still have no idea why I put it off for so long. Thank you ExecutiveOtaku for making the best choice for me! ^_____^ <3

Aliens come and go on earth but we have NO idea about it. Sometimes I think this is true for real life because some of the people I've meet before are just SO out there it's hard to not think they are somehow different beings. Hell I'm sure a lot of people think that of me too at times!

Seeing that when I first walk into MY room...

...I'd have this face on too

What a lovely pose XD

There's some of that baseball.

The OP reminds me of Durarara imagery wise which was an instant plus. The song was ok but might take me a little longer to really get into it. I'm pretty picky with my anime music honestly. The ED is painfully generic but again I enjoy the imagery that goes along with it. Seeing those beautiful animated starry skies is awesome and seeing space will always be a plus with me.

You are pretty but creep me out!

Kitty on the bed.

Healed kitty.

<3

There honestly isn't all that much to say about the anime at this point other than it'll be interesting to see the relationship between these odd characters as they meld together. I'm very weirded out by the parrot for some reason. It just seems like a random thing to be there, a bird and all, but I'm sure it'll have some significance later down the road other than being some sort of tool for these strange folk that are after the alien. At least that's what I think about it anyway. I do enjoy the random cat though. I'm not sure who owns the cat but it seems to be either the alien or baseball boy since I think it lives with them. I love the obsession that anime has with adding cats into shows that don't necessarily need them. Power to cute animals!

Clearly an alien!

The tree grew blossoms around the alien!

Love this shot. Just look into those eyes.

The main character, Yukitaka Tsutsui, is a baseball player that has transfered from Tokyo to go to school at Kisaragi high school. They scouted him to play for them which I find odd that a high school would do honestly. But things are different over their I suppose and baseball is similar to the American way of football in school. I hope the show doesn't try to focus too much on the baseball aspect because it will fail for me if it does. This isn't a show about baseball it's a show about a very odd alien prince and that's what I want to see!

And see I certainly did. Prince alien is a very odd one. He makes a lot of strange jokes which is generally for his own amusement. I don't mind that one bit but I am afraid that it'll get stale very fast if they don't keep on their toes comedy wise. I'm interested to learn more about him as the anime goes on. I loved that he just was randomly in Yukitaka's apartment before he even got there. This is going to be a very interesting relationship between the two indeed with things starting out this way. The anime has some of the most interesting facial expressions I've seen in quite some time. And yes, there's even a girl in this show that will most likely be a romantic interest of sorts for either of the boys.

Why hello Miss Miho Edogawa

Interesting device.

Ok that's weird...

OK that's WEIRDER!

Overall I'm very interested to see where this is going. I love me some yummy sci-fi to warm my heart during these cold winter months.

Today we take a look at Black Heaven in my Notso Secret Santa Project suggested by digitalboy. When it comes to tastes we generally clash when it comes to comedy, romance, slice of life type shows but everything else is pretty spot on. I've always enjoyed chatting away about anime with him and if he likes an anime that I haven't seen yet you can be sure I'll be checking it out.

What is he getting himself into?

Oji Tanaka is a boring salary worker who has a wife and child. He is completely depressed with the way his life has turned out. He misses music greatly and the only thing that lets him remember his past is an old guitar he use to play in his old band, Black Heaven. His wife doesn't seem to care about his music feelings all that much and mainly focuses on caring for their son. Oddly enough one day while at work Oji meets a new sexy worker named Layla Yuki. She ends up changing his life greatly. She ends up being an alien who needs him to make that godly sound he use to when he was in his band. She needs help to win her war in space and his music is key to running their ultimate weapon!

Fuck yeah!

The OP is very abstract. What the hell is with the ED? It's like someone just put a bunch of really random words in there. It doesn't make any sense but if I just listen to it and not focus on the words too much, it's not all that bad and rather fun. The English dub is very, very, VERY bad... Terrible one might say... I could only stomach one episode and even then I thought about switching it halfway through. For kicks I looked up who did the leads voice and to my surprise he has done a lot of stuff where I do love his, Beau Billingslea's voice. Jet Black for one from Cowboy Bebop. I can't believe it honestly... It might just be cause everyone else in the show was terrible English voice wise too.

Comic relief trio

Totally looks like a Zentradi

All of that sounds pretty awesome right? I thought so at first but it ended up falling pretty flat. It honestly reminds me a lot of Macross 7. Both are great but have a lot of kinks that should and probably could have been worked out. Also the aliens in this show looked an awful lot like the Zentradi from Macross. I love how this anime was made for huge music rock fans and to inspire young musicians to keep at what they do so they don't turn out like Oji. Each episode title is named after songs too so I thought that was a lovely touch. Even though I have never played Guitar Hero for more than 2 hours total it gives off that kind of feeling of epicness. Especially with how Oji tends to handle his guitar. It almost is sexual in a way and I hope I'm not the only one to see that or it might just read weird at this point.

She's SO short...

Their kid is cute.

The characters for the most part are pretty average. You aren't really suppose to care about anyone other than Oji it felt like. I know that the series is suppose to be all about him but I honestly would have loved to have more information on the aliens. All we really got is that they are fighting in a galactic war where the sound of music somehow sets off one of their most powerful weapons. The alien chick Layla was rather boring honestly. Her trio of oddball girls didn't help her cause either. They were just annoying. But I know they were put into the series for comic relief. They really could have been written out or at least did actual funny things in my opinion. I oddly enough really liked his wife. Sure she was bitchy and didn't quite understand what he was going through but she still cared in a way of sorts. I mean he didn't exactly let her in either so she could possibly try and help him out with how he was trying to deal with his feelings. She said this during a bathing scene that I thought was rather interesting and made me really think about how far their relationship had gone downhill. "I haven't see that in a while." I did laugh but then I felt really sorry for them at the same time.

I don't even...

Cum face...

Business men in suits playing in a band! YES!!!

In the end when Oji gets to play with some of his band member it is worth it. I seriously do love the idea of business men in suits playing in a band together. I'm very glad I watched this show but don't think I'll ever watch it again. I will however totally recommend it to anime fans who are very much into music. There are a lot of references that I wouldn't have known about if I didn't know a little bit about rock music or at least enough to get they were referencing something and look it up later. It probably helps that I watched it with my boyfriend who is completely obsessed with music too.

Boobs.... excuse me boobies.... wait.... breasts.... LARGE BREASTS! Okay now that that is out of my system I'll get on with it. Although it was funny to have my bf walk in and say hey "hello" with eyes popping out every now and then to the bounciness. Hell I probably would have had the same reaction.

There was a lot of spacey/sci-fi jargon to this one. So if you aren't up to date on either of the "languages" you'll be lost cause most of the time you'd have to put the pieces together on your own. Luckily I am somewhat so I enjoyed the watch.

None of the characters really stood out for me. I liked Luxandra. Spoiler whenever I like a character they die though I had some kind of connection with her. I guess it was the fear of needles part and her sheer toughness. Everyone else was your typical anime character and not really worth mentioning.

The music/sound was amazing. I was expecting to be let down by this because I normally am but... wow.... The only complaint about music would be the ending songs to both seasons. They were pretty boring and annoying. Season 2's opening was a little annoying but catchy at the same time. While Season 1's was amazing and I listened/watched it each episode. (which is very rare for me to do) Sometimes while watching I would find myself getting lost in the music instead of listening to the characters talk. Which wasn't bad at times cause well... the talk was pretty boring to begin with if the background music was distracting.

Nothing much to say about the art. I found it to be very boring. The random CG parts especially because they looked like crap to me. The Ghouls were kinda cool but not really. If anything I liked the Mecha's because they actually looked like robots and not some kind of super random flying man like machine. I hope you know what I mean by that.

I enjoyed the 2nd season way more than the first. I like time travel so that had a lot to do with it. I could have easily watched the second only. As the first really only had character introductions in it which I could have done without cause it was just filler to me.

When I first started watching it it gave me a Babylon 5 feel to it. I don't know if it was the animation or what. But throughout the series I kept having that feeling. Which was nice because it's been a while since I've seen anything anime or regular TV that even remotely resembles B5 let alone make me think of it.

Maybe it's only me but in the 2nd season Misaki was frequently (and in the end credits) wearing a yellow dress. Which always screamed Asuka from EVA to me. It had a very high feel to EVA while watching, although it wasn't as hard to figure out as EVA was.

I'd recommend this show to anyone that likes Sci-Fi and doesn't mind getting distracted by boobies.